UWGB women: Conference title streak ends at 20 years

CHICAGO – The streak eventually was going to end for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women's basketball team.

It finally did.

UWGB needed to beat Illinois-Chicago on Saturday and have Wright State lose to Oakland to win at least a share of a 21st straight Horizon League regular-season championship.

But while the Phoenix took care of business against the Flames in a 77-53 win at the UIC Pavilion, the Raiders did the same against the Golden Grizzlies to lock up the conference championship entering the league tournament this week.

The last time UWGB (20-8, 15-3) did not finish in the top spot in the conference was 1997-98, when it finished second. Since that time, it has won the regular-season championship outright 17 times and shared it three times.

For the Raiders, it’s the first outright Horizon title in program history.

“It shows that through obstacles and adversity over an 18-game period this team was able to pull off a 16-2 record and pull it together just in time to do something that hasn’t been done in Wright State basketball history,” Wright State coach Katrina Merriweather told the Dayton Daily News. “I couldn’t be more thrilled for the kids.”

Of course, this title has not been UWGB’s biggest goal. It would rather win the tournament championship this month to earn an automatic spot in the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight season.

The Phoenix’s win over the Flames also clinched its 20th straight season with 20 or more wins, and it came in relatively easy fashion.

It jumped out to a 22-5 lead with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first quarter, and although UIC got back to within 11 at halftime, the Phoenix led by double figures the rest of the way. It was up by as much as 26 on two occasions in the fourth quarter.

UWGB will host No. 7 seed Cleveland State in a Horizon League quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Kress Center. If it wins, it will head to Detroit for the semifinal and possible championship rounds.

The Phoenix went 2-0 against the Vikings this season, including a 62-53 victory at the Kress in January.